The present invention relates to a card reader which receives an IC card, reads data recorded on the IC card, and displays the data read out of the IC card.
In recent years, a small card reader excellent in portability and used as a personal terminal equipment in the electronic commercial transaction is being developed as a card reader for reading out data recorded in an IC card.
A portable card reader of this type is being simplified in construction and performance in an attempt to lower the manufacturing cost. When it comes to, for example, the construction, the portable card reader consists of only a casing of an IC card and a substrate. Mounted on the substrate are, for example, electronic parts, an LCD (liquid crystal display device), a battery and contacts with the IC card. The casing is mounted to surround the substrate.
In the card reader of the simplified construction described above, a battery for driving the card reader is soldered to the substrate and, thus, cannot be detached from the apparatus body. Therefore, the apparatus itself must be discarded with expiration of the battery life, even if the card reader is capable of performing the normal function. Also, the battery must be disposed of together with the apparatus body with expiration of the battery life, giving rise to a serious environmental problem.